In modern hospitals and medical facilities, a great deal of medical equipment is used in the care and treatment of patients. In this respect, it is quite common for a patient to be connected to a number of different medical apparatus, such as pumps administrating intravenous (IV) fluids, monitors, oxygen tanks, electrical strips and the like. Typically, these medical apparatus are mounted onto a vertical pole, conventionally referred to as an “IV pole.” It has been known to support IV poles on a wheeled basis that can be positioned adjacent a hospital bed or can be transported with the bed to another location.
In recent years, the size and number of medical apparatus routinely attached to a patient has increased, thus requiring more sturdy IV pole structures for supporting such equipment. For these and other reasons, it is necessary that an IV pole and its associated medical apparatus be firmly supported near a patient. In this respect, mounting the IV pole and its associated apparatus to a rigid wall or column is becoming preferable because it provides better structural support for the IV pole.
At the same time, it is often necessary to transport the patient, together with the medical apparatus that is operatively connected to the patient, to another location in the hospital for medical procedures or testing. At these times, it is necessary that the IV poles and medical apparatus be easily transferred from the wall or column support to a hospital bed, or to some other patient transfer vehicle, for movement to another location.
The present invention provides a support and transport system for supporting and transporting one or more medical apparatus between a wall support and a patient transfer vehicle, which system provides positive transfer from one to another, and vice-a-versa.